Being John Muir

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Month: June 2018

In movies, especially musicals, there’s always a scene where the guy or girl realizes they are loved by their crush. They sing about it sometimes or tell their friends about it… maybe even scream about it.

Basically, it’s an exciting moment and they can’t believe their luck. This one piece of news has brought them the greatest joy.

I was listening to the radio the other day. A well-known, often heard Chris Tomlin song played, but it took on a new meaning for me.

You see, I had been driving in my car, feeling lonely after hearing all about my new friend’s romance. I wondered when I would get my “he loves me” moment, when this song suddenly came on…

Jesus. He loves me. He loves me. He is for me.

And I thought, this is that moment! The way those characters sing or talk about their true love, how excited they are to have requited love, that’s the same when we talk/sing about how God loves us.

“He (Jesus) loves me” should be said with just the same, if not more excitement.

You’re already living the greatest romance of all time, so stop wondering when the other one will come.

8 In Lystra there sat a man who was lame. He had been that way from birth and had never walked.9 He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed10 and called out, “Stand up on your feet!” At that, the man jumped up and began to walk.

Here is a lame man treated poorly by his society, overlooked, probably unloved by most, and I would imagine in a constant state of hopelessness and discouragement.

I think it’s important that it is stated he’s been lame since birth, he had never walked. Now we have the full picture. How could this man ever have any hope to walk again or for things to change? After all, he’s been this way his entire life!

Yet, when he heard Paul speak, when he heard the gospel, about Jesus, hope was renewed, and he was healed. His life changed. He “jumped up and began to walk”.

I want to challenge you and myself. Maybe there is a pain you have lived with a long time: the pain of being single, the pain of unemployment, broken relationships, emotional or physical pain. You’ve lost hope. How could anything ever change when it’s been this way, maybe forever?

If you don’t know Jesus, I urge you to read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and meet the One who brings light into darkness. Experience hope in the gospel of Christ.

If you know Jesus, I will be more blunt with you. Your hopelessness is a poor witness to everyone around you. If you, who has the hope and life of Christ living inside you, feel like giving up, why would anyone want to follow your Jesus?

Let others see that you have faith just by looking into your eyes. And just wait! You may find yourself jumping and walking again.

Wrote this a while back, but the sermon at my church talked about pride and arrogance today and I felt this fit with the theme:

Dear Younger Me,

You look at the idea of pride and arrogance and feel so disconnected from those things.

Perhaps your pride and arrogance isn’t as flashy or loud as many others, but you suffer from it too.

When you feel entitled to something. When someone is thanking people for the good work they do and they forget you, when you are dedicated and loyal to a person or place, but it seems to make no difference to anyone. When those things consume your thoughts, when you constantly notice them and say woe is me, that’s pride and arrogance.

Yes, it would be nice to be remembered or recognized, but it’s not all about you.

So, when your mind starts to keep track of those moments, push that thought away and replace it with the truth that you are meant to be a servant, like Jesus, humble and selfless. You are entitled to nothing, but by God’s grace you have been given new life.